Today, I have Paige Agnew here with us. She is the author of Starless Sky and she’s here to answer a couple of questions. Welcome to The Book Vixen Ms. Agnew!
What are your writing habits and writing environment like? Do you listen to music? Have particular snacks? Do you write in the morning? At night? Do you do an outline first? Where do you get inspiration for your characters from?
When I’m writing, I have to find some place completely quiet and without distractions. It could be anywhere as long as there’s enough peace for me to think without losing my train of thought. If for some reason or another, I can’t concentrate because of the environment and I really want to write, that’s when I’ll listen to music. I have playlists specifically designated for writing. The requirements are (1) it has to be something that can tune out other noise, but be easy to tune out as well, (2) it can’t be terribly upbeat, and (3) I can’t know all of the words. Haha, if I do, I’ll just end up singing the song in my head and get nothing accomplished because of it. Yes, I am very particular about my writing environment, so usually, the quieter the better.
As for when I write, that falls under any time I’m free and I’ve got the story on my mind. Day or night. There’re been times when the story kept flowing and I didn’t want to stop and I found that I’d stayed up the entire night just writing.
Outlines? Ah, where would I be without them? I have notebooks and notebooks full of notes and outlines for every chapter of every story. Before I wasn’t an avid note taker and then with a few stories, I’d start to forget some details here and there that I meant to mention. For example, in a book of mine called The Pact, I forgot to include the actual pact. I was so happy once I finished; then it dawned on me that I had forgotten a very important detail. Fortunately, the mistake was toward the end and easy to fix. Reasons like that made me realized the importance of outlines. I have no idea how I ever successfully finished anything without them before. Starless Sky is still a mystery. No notes. No outlines. No nothing. It’s a miracle. I’d like to think of it as God’s blessing.
Inspiration? Inspiration is everywhere. Literally everywhere. You just have to look for it. So many different factors influence my writing that I couldn’t concretely pinpoint any of them. It could be the weather or a conversation I had with someone earlier that day. It could be a song. It could be an outfit. My inspiration is everyone and everything, everywhere. I take pieces here and there of my life and piece them together where it makes a whole different picture. A picture of someone else’s life. If you ask me, that’s how stories are born.
It's pretty impressive that you wrote Starless Sky when you were 15 years old. How did you celebrated becoming a published author?
When Starless Sky was published, I did not exactly celebrate on my own. I celebrated with friends and family. Just so happens at the same time, my brother's football team had just won their GMAC Bowl game. My brother blocked the field goal in overtime which is just what his team needed to come in and win with their own field goal in double overtime. My brother was awarded Defensive Player of the Game. So, January 2010 was a great opportunity for my family to celebrate the success of my having published a book and my brother's football success. It was a fun day for my family. A special cake was made for me (a cake that looked like an open book of Starless Sky) and a cake for my brother (a football with his jersey number). I think my family is going to have a delayed celebration of the release of Seven in combination with my high school graduation open house, which might also include celebrating my brother's college graduation and maybe even his playing in the NFL... you heard it hear first (smile). My brother and I like celebrating together because the focus of attention is not on just one... and if you knew my family you would understand (haha).
(Click on pictures for bigger view)
Congratulations to you and your brother! What a fun way to celebrate :) Thanks for stopping by The Book Vixen!
ABOUT THE BOOK
Life is funny sometimes. Little kids drop ice cream cones, people in general often run in to screen doors, there's even the occasional moment when one might trip going up the stairs. Kahlen could expect those things, deal with them even. But what she didn't expect, not even in her wildest, horrific nightmares, that just as something so terrible could happen, something so wonderful could follow after it.When Kahlen Thomas has a difficult time dealing with the lost of her best and only friend, she has hopes that the new boy at school, Kennley Morgan, will be the perfect distraction from her pain. She slowly realizes that Kennley doesn't as much distract her from her problems as much as he adds to them because of his own interesting past.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Paige wrote her first book, Starless Sky at age 15 and published it in January of 2010. Her sense of humor and from the heart personality shines through her writing. She was born in Michigan. Her compassion and sense of humor is in all of her writings. When Paige is not writing, she enjoys sports, dancing, singing, playing the piano, reading and attending her brother's college football games. In addition, spending time with family, friends, and her dog, Tigger are important to her. She is also actively involved in her church and community. Paige is currently working on other books. Watch for her next book, Seven
4 People had something to say:
Thanks for stopping by! I love chatting so let's talk it up!
DO NOT leave your email in the comments.